The Pacific Ocean...

After a good night's rest, I fixed us a great breakfast of eggs, sausage, fried potatoes, onions, and peppers.   It was really good! Christie and I got the camp broke down and packed up as we had a long drive ahead of us. The drive today was going to be a twist fest. I wondered how my vertigo was going to react. Our first destination was Redding, California.  Redding is a good-sized city in northern California. Again gas prices were out of sight. 

We headed out toward Douglas City and then headed north to Helena on Highway 299. We followed beautiful mountain rivers that had a lot of rafters on them. The water was crystal clear and looked so refreshing.  We also ran into a lot of highway construction so we had a lot of downtime. 

In many areas the scenery was breathtaking. We still had a long way to go before reaching the coast. Lots of twists and turns and more construction.  Thankfully no sign of fire damage here. 

Finally, we turned off of 299 onto the 101 highway up the California coast and our first sight of the ocean did not disappoint.  Waves crashing into the shoreline like battering rams against the rocks. What a sight. Too bad it was just for a moment. and it disappeared from sight. We drove up the coast trying to find a place to stay as I had not made any reservations. All the state parks were full. We finally made it to a place called Elk Country RV Campground near Orik, California.  We got our tent set up and secured and headed back toward Trinidad for dinner.  

We ended up at Cher-Ae Heights Casino and Bingo near Trinidad, in their very nice restaurant looking out over the ocean and a beautiful sunset.  Dinner was wonderful and the meal gluten-free. I had a salad that had golden beets. I had never had golden beets before and they were delicious!. It was also my first time to have Bananas Foster.  Very yummy!  A sign in the restroom let people know they used recycled wastewater for the flushing of the toilets.  Interesting! It was interesting that dinner was more reasonable than gas. 

We made our way back to our campsite and got the dogs all settled in and called it a day.  We were looking forward to the next day's adventure. The California Redwoods!

California Here We Come...

We were up early the next morning as we wanted to have showers and charge our electronics. Amazing what all we had to charge. 2 phones, a solar charger, a camera battery, and an additional power pack. After we got the dogs fed, watered, walked then stowed away in the car while we pack, we were finally ready to hit the road.  I got to talking to one of the guys there and he asked if we knew where we were going to go have breakfast. I said I didn't know and he referred us to a place up the road in Fernley, the Black Bear Diner.  The food was wonderful and plentiful. The coffee was really good and the service was great. Last but not least, it was very reasonable.  We had no complaints at all, and this place was extremely busy. Imagine my surprise when I got back to Oklahoma that there was a Black Bear Diner just up the road from me in Moore, Oklahoma. 

After we filled up we headed out west on Interstate 80 also known as Dwight D Eisenhower Highway toward Reno, Nevada. Once we got to Reno/Sparks we headed north on highway 395.  One of the crazy things we saw were the lakes in the area, which looked like pure mud.  When asking someone about it they said it was the spring melt from the mountains that made it look like that. It was the darndest thing I had ever seen. It didn't even look like water.  

We got to the California border and had to go through a checkpoint. I thought they would be asking about fruit and vegetables. However, they looked at us and waved us through.  Christie and I discussed it and came to the conclusion they were looking for human trafficking.  

While heading toward Susanville we saw the heavy devastation of the wildfires that had hit the area.  I don't know how long it had been, but there were burnt out cars sitting by the road still.  It was so sad to see all the damage that the wildfires had wrought. 

Once we got to Susanville we needed to gas up. $4.58 for a gallon of gas! Outrageous!  Then try going to the bathroom. None of these places have public bathrooms for their patrons. I finally had to beg the ladies at Subway to let me use their locked bathroom.  I asked why it was like that and they said because of the homeless and transient population. If they (homeless) find a business that has an open public bathroom they will stay in the business all day. 

We pressed on toward Lassen Volcanic National Park on Highway 38. The roads and landscapes were fantastic. It was like being in another world. Beautiful yet sad due to the fires.  We got to Lassen, it was the only National Park that we didn't get our passport stamped at.  We couldn't figure out where to go to get it done as there didn't seem to be an entrance.  

We headed north on Highway 89 to go to Burney Falls. We were traveling on the Volcanic Legacy Scenic Byway to the McArthur-Burney Interpretive Association and Lake Britton. The surrounding landscapes and vegetation were beautiful.  

We got there around four in the afternoon. After a quick look about, we decided that we would like to stay the night.  We went back up and was fortunate enough to secure a campsite for the evening.  I mean for $20.00 you can't beat it.  As we discovered Christie and I camped in the wrong campsite, my bad, but thankfully no one came in and made us move in the middle of the night.  

I was really impressed as to how the campground was laid out. Each camper had plenty of space and was not stacked on top of each other.   Christie took a hike to the falls and got some great pictures.  Later that night she went again and got the falls and the stars. My little shutterbug!  Again we had a great sleep and are thankful for a safe journey. 

Onward Through Nevada

After a restful nights sleep next to a rushing creek. Why do you always sleep better next to water? Christie and I got up and started breaking camp. Dogs fed, watered, and walked. We have this breakdown down to a science now. Thank goodness we have an inverter for the air bed that removes the air in about 4 minutes. 

We got the car all packed and headed up to the gift shop to get stickers for our water bottles and the much-needed coffee. Christie wanted to get another set of stamps for our National Park Passport as we were entering into a new district.  We had to head off to headquarters which was at a different location to get the passport stamped and to get spring water for our water bottles and thermos. 

After getting all squared away we headed out toward Baker and highway 50. Baker is the kickoff town of the Loneliest Road in America and is barely a wide spot in the road. Yet here we were getting ready to embark upon our adventure for another day. Our first destination was to be Ely after gassing up. 

We pulled into a truck stop and topped off the tank and got a bite to eat and some more coffee. Good ole Joe!  Then we let the dogs stretch their legs and take the necessary pit stop ever mindful to clean up after them. Nothing I hate more than people who do not clean up after their dogs.

Once more we headed out on highway 50 toward Sand Mountain Recreation Area. One thing I didn't know about Nevada was that it is the most mountainous state in the Union. Again high desert. It takes a rugged person to live out here and make a living. I admire the American spirit and grit of these people who tackle this environment. True pioneers! 

We arrived at the town of Eureka around noon and stopped to take a bathroom break at a beautiful little city park that had facilities. WHAT!?!? Everything was locked up even the playground. What is the point of having this park if you are going to keep it locked up?  Christie walked the dogs and I found a friendly horse and a bull across from the park. Han got his first experience of meeting a horse.  The horse was extremely friendly and put his head down to let Han sniff him.  Han didn't know what to make of him. First, he growled at him, then approached with extreme caution and sniffed back then the tail wag was furious. Needless to say, Han made a friend. 

We went on into Eureka and found a gas station and made the necessary pit-stop.  Once again we were on the road and making good time.  We passed by one of the original pony express stations. It had fencing all around it. Interestingly enough it was a stone building.
  

The sun was starting to lower as it was getting to be around five in the afternoon. We had reached Sand Mountain Recreation Area and had planned to camp there, but upon inspection and the cost, we decided not to. Safety reasons...so after Christie took a hike we headed toward Fallon.  The landscape around Sand Mountain is very interesting and we noticed lots of messages formed out of rocks along the side of the road. I think the area may be a large salt bed. 

Fallon is home to a Naval Air Station. As we were rolling into town we could see fighter planes doing maneuvers in the distance. Fallon is really a pretty little town. It is not set in as stark an atmosphere as some of the other towns we passed through. Our campground was all the way through town and on the outskirts of town.  It was a large RV park and the only tent site was behind the store.  We picked the only grassy spot to set up the tent the rest of the area was hard weeds and stickers. They had a dog park for you to exercise your dog.  The laughable thing was you were not to let your dog pee or poop on the grass.  Chris and I look at it and then each other and both of us said "What grass?" The whole area was dirt.  Yet we noticed other people did not pick up after their animals. Sad. 

After we got the tent all set up, we went back into town to have dinner. We found a wonderful Mexican Restaurant open, La Fiesta.  Christie and I both got drinks and ordered a fantastic meal. Little did we know that each of our meals would feed a family! There was so much food, we ate what we could and had to leave the rest as there wasn't any room in the ice chest to save it.  We got back to the campsite and hit the rack after Christie walked the dogs. 

I guess we were tired as we slept really well.